Tuesday, 10 December 2013

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a Karnataka NGO that feeds mid-day meal in Karnataka along with being operational in eight other states. This Karnataka NGO started implementing the mid-day meal programme in Karnataka from 2000. Beginning by feeding just 1500 children in five Government schools, this NGO now feeds 4,60,046 children thereby covering 2,627 Government schools in Karnataka.

Currently, the Foundation is operating in five districts of Karnataka which includes two functional centralised kitchens in Bangalore and one centralised kitchen each in Hubli, Mangalore, Mysore and Bellary. In total, Akshaya Patra feeds 1.3 million children across India.

Each meal has its own story. It could be a story of an aspiring doctor, ambitious Police Officer, innovative Scientist, or a dreamy artist. Of the many mid-day meal success stories, here is the story of a passionate learner of English language.

Basavalinga, a 14-year-old boy has a deep passion for learning English language. This eagerness has led him to develop a handwriting that resembles Calligraphic style of writing. He is a student of Government High School Hesaraghatta, and has developed a sense of independence as he started staying in a boarding school since he was 11-years-old. He is aware of the hardships that his parents have been through and hence his only aim is to study well, achieve high and support his family. A determined beneficiary of the mid-day meal in Karnataka, he aspires to pursue his career in Civil Services.

This beneficiary of the mid-day meal in Karnataka says that he is very fond of Akshaya Patra meal. He goes on to add, “The Akshaya Patra food is like god sent. I value this meal a lot. Even though the hostel I reside in provides food, but I prefer the mid-day meal of this Karnataka NGO. Along with being delicious, it is very nutritious too.”